Web Secret #200: Thank U Internet

This is my 200th post.

I have written this blog, without missing a week, since August 2008.

In the world of blogging, posting for over three years is a relative rarity and a milestone.

I thought long and hard about this post.

A couple of months ago, the 1998 Alanis Morissette song "Thank U" was running through my head.

"Thank U" is about gratitude. In the video, Morissette stands naked and sings:

"...how bout grieving it all one at a time

thank you india
thank you terror
thank you disillusionment
thank you frailty
thank you consequence
thank you thank you silence..."

I am filled with gratitude that the Internet makes it possible for me to be closer to three family members, two of whom I never knew.

This post is for them.

To Betti Kliatschko, my mother's favorite great-aunt. One of six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust. Her name is recorded in the now online Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. She is remembered.

To Jakob Schapiro, my maternal grand-father who died in 1942. He was a pioneer in the automobile industry who once owned 40% of Benz & Cie, (which eventually became Mercedes Benz.) Not only can I read about him in German Wikipedia, but I discovered that one of the companies he owned made the chassis of an early Rolls Royce. The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Shapiro-Schebera Skiff bears his name. One beautifully restored version was recently put up for auction, asking $1.2 million. He is remembered.

Finally, to George London, my father, famed opera singer. He is everywhere on the Internet, on YouTube, in books sold on Amazon, in the website for the foundation he created, and just this past year, in a documentary film. He is remembered.

Thank U Internet - it's personal.